


Hide and seek

by Universe_13



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Cute scenes, F/M, I'm not sure if this can be called an au, Other, Shenanigans, They/Them Pronouns for The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel, english is not my first language, only herrah is mentioned, this idea apeared on my head while taking a shower
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:01:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28212849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Universe_13/pseuds/Universe_13
Summary: Hornet shows Hollow a new game she's really good at.
Relationships: Dryya & White Lady (Hollow Knight), The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel & Hornet, The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel & White Lady, The Pale King/White Lady (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 31





	Hide and seek

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> This is my first one shot, and just as I said in the tags, this idea popped into my head while showering. I really hope you like this history.

Hornet was running through the white halls from the palace, they echoed with every step from her little feet. She was holding something hiding it under her red cloak, for some reason she seemed exited and just before the hall’s end, she stopped and hid behind a pillar. Her breath was agitated, a smile drew on her face, she peeked out from both sides of the pillar, no one seemed to be following her, she sat down on the floor and let out a sigh, she then uncovered what she was holding, it was a little wooden box with a pale ore button to open it.

She was just about to press the button when she heard a familiar voice

“I already told you to not take food from the kitchen Hornet. Even your mother had told you about that before.”

She jolted by the sound from her father’s voice, how was he there when no one was on the hall before? She even checked both sides! The Pale King sighed irritated and picked Hornet from the floor. That surprised the little spider, it was usually the royal retainers who mostly where ordered to carry her instead of her father, she didn’t mind and nuzzled the soft with robes the King was wearing, he didn’t react to it.

The Pale King walked through the halls, turn to the left, straight, one to the right, straight, up the stairs… How did he didn’t get lost in here? Hornet didn’t know, she only knew the way to the kitchen and to the greenhouse where the Queen told her she was allowed to play there with the condition to not destroy the plants and statues. She liked that place, it smelled nice, it wasn’t dark and cold like Deepnest, but the warmth made her feel safe just like when her mother carries her or when her mother embraces her with a hug.

She realized her father stopped walking, he was standing in front her bedroom, why didn’t he let her go? The pale king cleared his throat and spoke

“Before I let you go and hide inside your room, can you give me back what you took from the kitchen?” He said it steady looking at her eyes with a neutral face, she groaned and held tight the box under her cloak.

“No. It’s mine now!” she cried out while frowning, still keeping the eye contact.

“Hornet.” Said the Pale King with the same voice tone as before. It was pure luck the King was on a good mood, otherwise he would have taken the box already leaving Hornet crying after him, ordering him to return the box she stole from the kitchen.

She growled and gave her father the box, he took it and put down Hornet beside him, he then opened the door. She didn’t need to be ordered what she had to do next but she didn’t want to do it either, she looked up at her father before entering

“You may be able to play with your sibling tomorrow, only if you behave. Understood?”

Hornet smiled and hugged him, then she nodded.

“Good night dad!” said Hornet while entering her room, The Pale King didn’t respond only gave a short nod and closed the door. Hornet went to her nest and curled herself under her blankets to sleep.

**…**

The next morning, right after breakfast Hornet went back to her room to pick one of her favorite toys, she already had her toy needle, but she needed to show this specific toy to her sibling, it was a small weaver, her mother had just recently made her that plushie which she carried it with her all places, except the White Palace, it was big and could easily lost it. She left her room once she found her toy under the blankets and headed to the greenhouse.

At the end of the hall to her left, down the stairs, then to her right, another turn to her right and walk all the way to the end from the hall. There was a green crystal door with flower pots on each side, she smelled the air, she felt shivers and giggled, she could already feel the warmth from that place. Father had told her at breakfast to wait until her sibling arrived, so she obediently stood in front of the door.

A few moments later, she saw a tall figure, they were a little taller than the King, she dropped her toy needle and waved her hand vigorously, holding her plushie with the other one.

“Hi!”

Hollow looked at her and copied the movement she made but calmer than her.

She giggled and picked up her needle toy, waiting for her sibling to open the door, Hollow approached the greenhouse’s door and opened it, and almost instantly Hornet entered the greenhouse, she ran to its center and looked back watching Hollow walking towards her.

“Did you bring the blanket?”

Hollow shook their head looking down at her, she hummed in response, then she laid her toy needle on the floor.

“Look what my mum made for my Hatchday!” She handed her plushie to Hollow, they carefully took it and looked at it, Hornet laughed and kept speaking

“My mum told me you don’t know your hatchday, is that true?”

A short nod, Hornet gasped surprised “Well, it doesn’t matter, I can share it with you.”

Hollow shook their head, no that was a thing only for her, besides, it didn’t mind them not knowing theirs.

“She also told me you weren’t supposed to feel, is that true too?”

Hollow paused before answering, then nodded

“Is that why father used to call you like a thing?”

Hollow didn’t know how to respond to that question, yeah, maybe he treated them like an object because at first they were a vessel, they shouldn’t have any feelings, but here they are with the only order to be themselves, it was a difficult task when your whole life you only knew how to obey the orders someone gave you.

Hornet looked how much it cost her sibling to answer, and tried to apologize

“I shouldn’t have said that…”

There was a moment of silence, both siblings were looking down at the floor, not making eye contact

“Um… Do you want to play a game?”

Hollow looked at her, he kneeled down and returned the weaver plushie to Hornet, then proceeded with a nod, Hornet took her plushie and patted her sibling’s mask, just between their eyes. Behind them the door opened, it was the White lady with her loyal knight Drya. Hollow turned their head to look at them while Hornet peeked out behind them.

“Good morning children. Oh, don’t mind me, I’ll be at the balcony, if you need anything don’t be afraid to ask” said the White lady with a sweet tone, then walked away. Drya gave a small bow to both kids before following the Queen. After they were gone Hornet tugged Hollow’s cloak to get their attention.

“Hollow, I’ll show you a fun game, this game I play it with my friends at Deepnest, and I always win!” she said proudly at the last sentence. Hollow was attentive to the rules Hornet began to explain.

“Here are the rules, the seeker counts to ten. Then the others hide. You got it?”

It was a simple game, Hollow thought they could manage with that, well almost every game was for little kids to understand, and Hornet was a small child so it will be fine, they nodded in agreement to let her know they understood the rules.

“Alright, you count first! I’ll show you how good I am at this game!” Wait, how was Hollow going to count without a voice? With his fingers? Probably not, they stared at Hornet tilting their head indicating confusion, Hornet took a moment to understand what they meant, then gasped at the realization that their sibling didn’t have a voice. How did she forget about such important detail?

“Um… oh! I know, I’ll count for you! just cover your eyes and then when I finish you can go and search where I hide… is that ok?”

That sounded like a fine plan, Hollow nodded exited, Hornet laughed, now both were able to play. With a sign Hornet asked Hollow to sit on the floor, then grabbed both of their hands and put each one on their respective eyes, so Hollow couldn’t cheat. Although they didn’t saw that as an option to play, it didn’t even cross their mind that idea

“Alright, I’ll count to ten, I’ll let you know when you can start searching. One!” Hornet started counting while walking away from her sibling…

“Two!”

She passed some pedestals with flowerpots on, then circled the small fountain behind them…

“Three!”

Hornet stopped at the wall covered in vines with some flowers starting to bloom

“Four!”

She looked up at the ceiling and spotted some plants growing on pots hanging from it…

“Five!”

She got an idea on where to hide. Drya was watching her for the entrance at the balcony, just across the room.

“Six!”

She started climbing the wall, she was being careful on where to put her claws, she didn’t want to ruin the flowers, especially when they were blooming, but also not make her stepmother get angry at her. Drya was watching the scene and made a small sign to the Queen

“Seven!”

Hornet got at the ceiling, now she only needed to get on one of the pots, she saw which one was the nearest one from where she was. The Queen followed Dya’s sign with her eyes, then gasped quietly to not surprise the spiderling and made her fall.

“Eight!”

She changed her pose, preparing to jump. The Queen and Drya where curious on what she was doing, then Hornet Jumped.

“Nine!”

Drya was about to move from her place and catch Hornet, the queen stopped her and shook her head. Hornet catch the edge from the pot she had in front of her from where she jumped, then climbed and got inside the pot.

“Ten!”

She then crouched inside the pot covering herself with the plant growing inside to hide her red cloak.

“Hollow you can start searching!”

Hollow uncovered their eyes, and scanned the place, they saw how their mother and the knight Drya where talking, they seemed worried. They didn’t pay attention; it wasn’t good to meddle on others busines. They got up and started looking for Hornet, Hollow checked behind the pedestals, nothing. They checked behind some big flower pots with a vast variety of flowers, nothing. They checked under the tables with the small flowerpots, nothing.

Where was she? The green house wasn’t even that big, it was big enough for her mother to feel comfortable… well maybe it was big enough, it also had a table and some chairs for her to drink some tea. Hollow decided to go where her mother was. she was near the balcony taking care of some flowers, if they remembered correctly those where called daisies.

The white lady looked at them when Hollow approached her, “Hello Hollow, do you need anything?”

They nodded in response, and walked over to the table behind her. Checked under it, still nothing. Drya seemed confused and asked herself what were they doing, it seemed that the Queen was just as confused as her

“Hollow, May I ask, what are you doing?”, Hollow answered with a sign, they knew little of sign language but enough for her mother to understand. Apparently, the Queen understood, but asked to confirm she actually did.

“Are you searching for Hornet?”

A nod, the White lady hummed, her suspicions where right, apparently both of them where playing, that explained why Hornet was counting while climbing up the wall and almost fell. “Well I can’t tell you where she is can I?”

Hollow shook their head, no that was cheating, and that would ruin the fun part of the game. Their mother giggled “Well I must say, I think it would be very difficult for you to find her”

What? Shouldn’t she be supporting them? How difficult would it be to find a spider with a bright red dress?

**…**

It had passed twenty minutes since Hornet had hide, and Hollow couldn’t find her. She was watching them from above, it was funny watching them struggle with such simple game, but she had to admit it her hiding spot was pretty clever. It was really hard for her to not laugh or let out a giggle, even a small one.

She knew Hollow was very observant and also reacted quickly with sounds, well they were, they stopped their training sometime after their molting, and if they were really observant, they would have noticed the pots hanging from the ceiling or maybe they already thought about them but didn’t think of them as a hiding spot.

Then she decided to surprise them, and yelled “HOLLOW I TOLD YOU I’M GOOD AT THIS GAME!!!”

Not only Hollow but the Queen and her knight Drya jolted in surprise of that, Hollow was looking everywhere trying to know where her voice came from, Hornet saw that and giggled “I can see you Hollow!” she teased, Hollow seemed irritated by now, that wasn’t a good sign, so maybe it was better to finish this round “Do you want to finish the round Hollow?”

Hollow nodded, Hornet laughed out loud, Drya looked at the queen, the queen was watching Hollow, and Hollow made eye contact with their mother. Then Hornet peek out from the pot and yelled at her sibling

“Hollow!! I’m up here!!” she said it waving one of her hands, Hollow looked up and their eyes narrowed, oh they were mad. How did she even get up there?!? But most importantly how was she going to get down from up there?

That seemed to concern Hornet too when she realized her situation, she let an _Oh-oh_ trying to think how to get down. I was now Hollow’s turn to laugh, even if they don’t have a voice, but their shaking let everyone understand that they were laughing. That made Hornet angry

“Hey don’t laugh! I’m still the winner so… um… can you help me get down?”

She asked shily, Hollow kept laughing with their hands clutching their stomach, the white lady saw that and laughed too, Drya wasn’t sure about laughing, but oh gods, her queen’s laugh made her smile. Hornet on the other hand, was keeping her tears not to fall, she was mad, how can her sibling laugh at her, but not only them but the queen too!

“Fine! I’ll stay here if you want!”

Hollow controlled their breathing to calm themselves, then looked at Hornet and raised both arms, she saw that and threw her plushie at her sibling on the face, Hollow jolted a bit about that, but raised their arms at her again

“You want me to jump?” Hornet asked curious, they nodded,” What will you do if you can’t catch me?” Hollow didn’t answer but that made them nervous

“Then both of you will be grounded” The white lady said without hesitation. Both kids where watching her making them more nervous “But if you catch her Hollow, this situation will be kept as secret, just to avoid making Herrah and your father angry”

Hollow nodded, and raided their arms again, Hornet saw them, she could make it, if she could jump from the ceiling to a hanging pot then she could land on her sibling’s arms, besides she didn’t want to get grounded again.

Hornet got up and jumped, Hollow managed to catch her, it was good she didn’t weight much, otherwise both of them would have fell, the queen applauded for a moment. Hollow looked at their sister, she was so cute, they nuzzled her, she squirmed, she was still angry at them for laughing, Hollow stopped and put her on the ground.

“Well… Now it’s my turn to be the seeker!”

Hollow nodded quickly, Hornet covered her eyes preparing to count, while her sibling started walking away form her but still keeping an eye on her

“One!”

Hollow didn’t know where to hide, they looked around and saw a pile of dung sacks and walked towards it…

“Two!”

They moved some sacks near an empty shelf…

“Three!”

The queen and her knight Drya were curious watching them moving the pile…

“Four!”

Hollow somehow managed to fit on the bottom part from the shelf, keeping their mask out of it…

“Five!”

They moved some full sacks around them to cover their body…

“Six!”

They grabbed some other ones that weren’t full or empty and covered their mask, but not completely, so they could see Hornet looking for them…

While Hornet kept counting, the queen was trying not o laugh at her child’s actions, otherwise Hornet would know, Drya let out a sigh

“Well, that would explain why Ogrim likes them so much”

“Pardon?”

Drya realized she was thinking out loud, but at least she didn’t say something offensive or… personal. She looked at her queen and explained on a low tone as if it was a secret

“What I meant is, my queen, do you know Ogrim’s favorite place?”

The white lady thought about it for a moment, and looked at her child still on their hiding spot

“Ten! Ready or not here I come!”

Hornet looked around first, Hollow was tall so find a place to hide for them would be not easy, that means it would be too easy to find them, oh she knew where they were hiding, she ran over to her stepmother and looked at her.

“Is Hollow hiding here?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you go and search?” said the white lady with a smile, Hornet peeked out and after seeing nothing, she still walked behind her, just to make sure Hollow wasn’t under the table, she then walked away from her stepmother and went towards the wall covered in vines, Hollow wasn’t there.

She then walked towards the fountain and checked if they were under the water, nothing. She checked behind the shelves, still nothing. She even checked behind the dung sack pile and there was nothing.

Where could a tall being hide? Hollow wasn’t behind their mother either, so maybe she underestimated her sibling’s ability to hide, and that means she found a good opponent at this game. She was more exited now that she thought about that, but she wouldn’t lose that fast, she was going to find them.

**…**

To bad the spiderling didn’t had any patience, she got frustrated the next five minutes after not finding her sibling.

“Hollow, you can come out now! I want to play another game!”

There was no response, Hollow didn’t want to get out from their hiding spot, it wasn’t fair for them to search for her for twenty minutes, and Hornet getting bored the first five? They thought she said she was good at this game! She said she always wins! no, Hollow wasn’t going to give up that easily.

The white lady looked at Hornet tenderly. That was the first time she saw them both play something together, even if her child told her whenever they did something with her. Her knight Drya followed her eyes and felt happy for her, she knew how much she wished for a child, and after the king announced to the workers and knights about The Hollow Knight not being used anymore to contain the infection, she noticed how her queen grew more affectionate towards not only her new child, but the knights and workers at the palace too. She even was more affectionate towards the king, not that she wasn’t before, but she would show it more at the palace.

“Argh!! I can’t find them!”

The white lady started laughing, Hornet turned her gaze towards the queen, Drya looked away from Hornet’s position. The princess huffed at that and hugged her plushie.

“Hollow!”

No answer, she looked around. There wasn’t any other place they could have hide, then decided to double check the places she searched.

She checked the table behind the white lady, the vines, behind the shelves, under the water on the fountain, behind the dung sack pile…

Before she moved away from the dug sack pile, it shook slightly when she turned her gaze away from it, she saw the pile again to make sure she didn’t imagine what happened. There was no way her sibling would hide under all that horrible smell, right?

At first, she didn’t even wanted touch the pile, but if that meant to be able to win the game and find her sibling, so be it. The sack at the top wasn’t as heavy as she thought, she then pulled it with force, a thing she instantly regretted, her claws dug into the sack and when she pulled it, she accidently made a hole spilling the dung inside the sack on top of her.

She shook her head, trying to get rid of the dirt and other things… Hornet was so shocked that it took her a minute to realize what happened, she didn’t dare to take deep breaths, she knew she was smelling really bad.

Hollow peeked out under the sack that Hornet tore before getting dirty, they saw her in the eyes, oh no. She was tearing up in front of them, that wasn’t part of the game! Hollow got up from the floor, moving the sacks around them, then they carried Hornet and tried to shake her cloak, she was sobbing, they tried to wipe her tears

“No! you smell bad, I don’t wanna smell bad!”

The queen saw that, she walked towards them, but not to close and tried to sheer up the little princess “Hornet, dear. You don’t need to worry about such things, it was just an accident. Hollow why don’t you two go and take a bath?”

Hollow tilted their head at her question, the two of them? Did they smell bad too? The white lady giggled

“Yes Hollow, you need a bath too. I’ll accompany you, come on, the sooner the better”

**…**

Hollow loved taking warm baths and Hornet seemed to like them too. Both kids where already on their respective rooms, well kind of, Hornet asked them if she could go to their room and take a nap there. Hollow accepted, taking a nap sounded really appealing after the bath.

Hornet was curled next to them, she was almost fallen asleep, Hollow was too. They were happy, now they knew something new.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if I made some mistakes, Since English is my second language.
> 
> I also have an AU idea I'm working on writting.


End file.
